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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the break and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a late winner for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's chances of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents came from behind to claim victory in Bergamo.

The two teams went into this match with matching records in the league phase of this year's competition, having won, drawn, and lost to be on ten points.

For extended periods there was very little to distinguish them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro turned in Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a threat going forward, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker creating problems for the defence.

James shot wide in the after the break but the home team upped the pressure and justly levelled when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a centering pass.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but they got the winner late on when the Blues defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who took full advantage with a powerful strike.

Chelsea tried to rescue a point in stoppage time but a brilliant save by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The result means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that qualify automatically for the next round—to 11th with two league phase matches left to play.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, jump up to third place, three points ahead of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Form Continues

This was a hugely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them well placed to achieve the top-eight position they need to avoid the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they let their concentration slip in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta took full advantage.

The Italian side are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the Blues, but they will be disappointed to be leaving with nothing after securing the lead.

But the wider issue is that this continues Chelsea's worrying streak of results in all tournaments.

Since defeating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the close of November they are now winless in their last four outings.

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca made five changes for this game as he persisted with his strategy of rotating players in and out of the starting lineup.

The rotations here came after he implemented the same number for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

The coach will view squad rotation as necessary as he attempts to manage players' minutes and compete both at home and abroad, but he insisted the central contingent of players remains the same for crucial fixtures.

"I believe tonight [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, and the Gunners," he commented.

"If you look at the five changes that we did relative to Bournemouth it may be a change but it involves the eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

"The players who played this evening are the individuals who feature in almost all the matches."

Up Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next European fixture sees them host the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, host Athletic Bilbao at the same time.